FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY NEWS

Two Days of Celebrations to Mark the Inauguration of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Sixth President

The occasion will be marked by three major events open to the general public

October 02, 2013

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio—The inauguration of Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR,
as the sixth president of Franciscan University of Steubenville will
take place on Thursday, October 10, 2013.

The occasion
will be marked by three major events open to the general public: A Mass
at 10:00 a.m. in Finnegan Fieldhouse, the Inauguration Ceremony at 2:30
p.m., also in the fieldhouse, and an October 10-11 Inaugural Symposium
on Catholic Higher Education and the New Evangelization.

The
Franciscan University Board of Trustees unanimously elected Father
Sheridan as president on April 19, 2013, and he began his duties as
president June 1. As the University’s sixth president, he continues
an unbroken chain of leadership by Franciscan Third Order Regular
priests of the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Loretto,
Pennsylvania), which operates Franciscan University.

“When
I learned I had been selected as Franciscan University’s sixth
president, I felt a tremendous sense of peace and a tremendous sense
of responsibility to lead this great University,” said Father Sheridan.
“It is inspiring and truly humbling for me to be here at Franciscan
University with the students who are pouring their hearts into
their education and their prayer life, falling in love with God and the
Church, and striving to become saints.”

A native of
Cresson, Pennsylvania, Father Sheridan was ordained to the priesthood in
December 2006. He holds a juris doctor from the University of
Pittsburgh School of Law and a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic
University of America, where he served as an assistant professor in the
School of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America. A member
of the Franciscan University Board of Trustees from 2007-2012, he began
teaching theology at the University in 2012.

Father
Sheridan sees the inaugural events as a way to “thank God for the many
ways he has blessed Franciscan University” over its 67-year history.

“This
is an opportunity to advance the University’s mission through
thoughtful discussion and prayer on our unique role in
Catholic higher education, especially ways our students can go forth as
Christ’s ambassadors to impact the Church and the secular world,” said
Father Sheridan.

The inauguration ceremonies will
be rich with academic significance and will be witnessed by the
University’s academic, student, and alumni communities, the Board of
Trustees and Board of Advisors, civic leaders, administrators from other
colleges and universities, representatives of the Franciscan TOR
province, and friends of Franciscan University from near and far.

The
evening of Wednesday, October 9, Father Sheridan will prayerfully
prepare for his inauguration by leading Franciscan University students
in a Holy Hour in Christ the King Chapel at 7:30 p.m.

The
main celebrant for the October 10, 10:00 a.m. Inauguration Mass will be
the Very Reverend Richard Davis, TOR, minister provincial of the
Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The homilist will be the
Most Reverend Nicholas Polichnowski, TOR, minister general of
the worldwide Third Order Regular.

Father Sheridan
selected the readings for the Mass, which will be a Votive Mass of the
Sacred Heart, the namesake of the TOR province. He also selected the
music, which will be performed by Franciscan University students and
organist Father Chris Dobson, TOR.

The Most Reverend
Jeffrey Monforton, bishop of Steubenville, and the Most Reverend Gilbert
Sheldon, bishop emeritus of Steubenville, will participate, as will
many other priests.

The 2:30 p.m. Inauguration Ceremony
begins with a procession of the Franciscan faculty in academic attire,
then an invocation by Bishop Monforton and words of welcome by various
officials associated with Franciscan University.

The
inauguration itself symbolizes a transfer of power, as Father Terence
Henry, TOR, Franciscan University president from 2000 to 2013 and now
University chancellor, brings forth the presidential seal of office. The
seal of office is then conferred on Father Sheridan by Father
Davis, chairman of the Franciscan University Board of Trustees.

A
high point of the inauguration will be a major address by Father
Sheridan, in which he will present his vision for leading
Franciscan University in the years ahead. The public is then invited
to the President’s Reception in the J.C. Williams Center.

Later
that evening, the Inaugural Symposium on Catholic Higher Education and
the New Evangelization will begin at 8:00 p.m. with an address by Bishop
Monforton, “A Shepherd's Perspective on Catholic Higher Education and
the New Evangelization.”

On Friday, October 11, at
8:30 a.m. Mr. John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of
America, will speak on the symposium’s main theme. At 10:15 a.m., Father
Sheridan will give “A Presidential Perspective on Franciscan University
of Steubenville and the New Evangelization.” The afternoon session will
consist of a faculty panel discussion and remarks by Dr. Daniel
Kempton, vice president for Academic Affairs.

On Friday
evening at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Scott Hahn, the Father Michael Scanlan Chair
of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization at Franciscan
University, will speak in Christ the King Chapel on “The New
Evangelization and Franciscan University.”

The
Board of Trustees selected Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR, as the sixth
president of Franciscan University of Steubenville on April 19, 2013,
and he began serving as president on June 1.

Father Sheridan
served as assistant professor in the School of Canon Law at
The Catholic University of America from 2009 until he
joined Franciscan University’s Theology Department as a professor in
fall 2012, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses. A member of the
Board of Trustees of Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania,
since 2010, he also held a position on the Franciscan University Board
of Trustees from 2007-2012, working on the Student Life Committee and
the Academic Affairs Committee, which he chaired from 2011-2012.

Before
he entered the Franciscan Third Order Regular, he graduated in 1985
with a bachelor of science in pharmacy from the University of Pittsburgh
School of Pharmacy. In 1990, he earned his juris doctor from the
University of Pittsburgh School of Law and spent the next 10 years as a
practicing attorney in Sacramento and Pittsburgh, focusing on healthcare
litigation, primarily with the representation of hospitals
and physicians.

The Cresson, Pennsylvania, native
entered the Franciscan Third Order Regular in 2000 and made his solemn
profession of vows in 2005. He was ordained to the priesthood in
December 2006. In 2007, Father Sheridan graduated from
Washington Theological Union with his master of divinity. That same
year, he also obtained his licentiate in canon law from The Catholic
University of America School of Canon Law. In 2009, he obtained
a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America School
of Canon Law. His dissertation, “Ex corde Ecclesiae: A
Canonical Commentary on Catholic Universities ‘From the Heart of the
Church’ to Catholic Universities,” addresses seven challenges to the
implementation of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution on Catholic
Universities and suggests solutions to those issues.

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